Two Golden Dawn members shot dead in Athens
Two members of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party have been killed in a suspected drive-by shooting.
The attack took place amid a government crack down on the party, the country’s third most popular political force.
The victims, both in their early 20s, have been identified as Giorgos Fountoulis and Manos Kapelonis.
A third man was seriously wounded in the shooting on a busy street during the evening rush hour, police said, declining to go into further details.
It is understood they were gunned down outside the party’s headquarters in the Greek capital.
Almost immediately afterwards, scores of riot police cordoned off the streets surrounding the building.
Golden Dawn parliamentary Elias Kassidiaris described the shooting as cold-blooded murder: “When the lads were laying on the ground, the assassins kept firing at them until they emptied their guns.”
Other politicians, who have in the past queued up to pour scorn on Golden Dawn, united in condemning the shooting.
The killing in September of rapper Pavlos Fissas prompted a crackdown on the party and led to sometimes violent protests across Greece.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemned the killing and in the wake of recent protests for and against Golden Dawn, its leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos and two senior lawmakers
were ordered to be detained last month pending their trial on charges of belonging to a criminal group.
Euronews’ Athens correspondent Stamatis Giannisis said: “The cold blooded killing of the Golden Dawn members has come only a few weeks after the murder of the left wing activist by a member of the ultra right wing party is causing serious concerns to the Greek authorities who fear that this might be the beginning of a vendetta between the extreme right and the extreme left with unforeseeable consequences.”
The attack took place amid a government crack down on the party, the country’s third most popular political force.
The victims, both in their early 20s, have been identified as Giorgos Fountoulis and Manos Kapelonis.
A third man was seriously wounded in the shooting on a busy street during the evening rush hour, police said, declining to go into further details.
It is understood they were gunned down outside the party’s headquarters in the Greek capital.
Almost immediately afterwards, scores of riot police cordoned off the streets surrounding the building.
Golden Dawn parliamentary Elias Kassidiaris described the shooting as cold-blooded murder: “When the lads were laying on the ground, the assassins kept firing at them until they emptied their guns.”
Other politicians, who have in the past queued up to pour scorn on Golden Dawn, united in condemning the shooting.
The killing in September of rapper Pavlos Fissas prompted a crackdown on the party and led to sometimes violent protests across Greece.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemned the killing and in the wake of recent protests for and against Golden Dawn, its leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos and two senior lawmakers
were ordered to be detained last month pending their trial on charges of belonging to a criminal group.
Euronews’ Athens correspondent Stamatis Giannisis said: “The cold blooded killing of the Golden Dawn members has come only a few weeks after the murder of the left wing activist by a member of the ultra right wing party is causing serious concerns to the Greek authorities who fear that this might be the beginning of a vendetta between the extreme right and the extreme left with unforeseeable consequences.”